Portland has become even less affordable, according to State of Housing report

Portland has become less affordable, and lower income residents were hit the hardest, according to the 2016 State of Housing report released Thursday by the Portland Housing Bureau.

Author:
Sara Roth

Published:
6:26 PM PST December 2, 2016

Portland has become less affordable, and lower income residents were hit the hardest, according to the 2016 State of Housing report released Thursday by the Portland Housing Bureau.

The 144-page report is packed with information about who can afford to live where in Portland.

As expected, rising rents and home prices have impacted vulnerable communities the most.

“Data indicates that housing affordability in Portland in the last year has gotten worse, an issue that is disproportionately impacting low-income residents, communities of color, seniors, and individuals with disabilities,” Housing Commissioner Dan Saltzman wrote in the report.

Saltzman said the city has made strides to make housing more affordable, including voters passing the $258 million housing bond in November and giving renters 90-day notice for no-cause evictions and rent increases.

Despite those protections, renters are still impacted by rising housing prices. Nearly half of Portland residents are renters, and 52 percent of people who rent spend more than 30 percent of their income just on rent.

About a quarter of renter households have at least one person with a disability. The average renter makes just over 30,000, while homeowners make around $80,000 a year.

On average, black, Native American and Hawaiian-Pacific Islander households made about half of what white households brought in: $27,000 a year to $57,000 a year, respectively. That impacts how many people of each ethnicity who own homes. More than half of white households own homes, compared to just 27 percent of black, Native American and Hawaiian-Pacific Islander households.

And homeowners are getting richer, while renters are getting poorer. Compared to 2000, homeowners are making around $5,000 more per year, adjusted for inflation, while renters lost a few thousand dollars a year.

The report also showed which neighborhoods are growing the fastest. Gateway and the central city added more than 8,000 new residents last year, while Pleasant Valley, Centennial and Lents also boomed.

With population growth, new construction has also increased - but not as quickly. About 4,450 new units were built in 2015, a slight increase from the year before. Based on permits, Portland should see even more new construction over the next year.